In 2012, I received six commissions for bookplate designs. The original drawings for these were done with black technical pens on white Bristol board. The drawings were scanned at a high resolution, and transferred via a photo chemical process to copper plates for letterpress printing.

Exlibris Corey B. French: The central subject in this bookplate is St. Jerome in his study, after the painting by Jan van Eyck. The saint wears a cardinal's garb, and is seated at his desk, which is covered in writing tools, a bookstand, an hourglass and various bottles and jars. More books and scrolls, an astrolabe and a paternoster can be seen in the background. St. Jerome's tame lion is sitting next to the desk.

My patron requested that I include images of the Virgin & Child, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Thomas of Canterbury and St. Thomas More. I placed these in the corners, and framed the central image in a pointed quatrefoil fitting snugly between them. The small triangular spaces filling out the square have fanciful creatures in them; clockwise, these are a unicorn, a heraldic dolphin, a pig, a monopod, a blemya, a mermaid, a barometz and a green man.

The Latin quote at the bottom is from St. Augustine: "Too late have I loved thee, O beauty ever ancient and ever new!"

Exlibris Barbara Teresa Shaw: The man who commissioned this commissioned the very first bookplate I ever designed. Over the past several years, he has had me create bookplates for the various members of his family as well as for his godchildren; each of them have featured the recipent's patron saint. Past designs have shown St. Lucy, St. Francis, St. Columba, St. Dorothy and St. Agnes. This one depicts St. Barbara, a 4th century martyr who was imprisoned in a tower and later beheaded. The bookplate shows her with her familiar attributes: she wears a martyr's crown, and holds a sword and a chalice with a host elevated above it. Her tower is drawn in the background

Exlibris Afsheen Majid: My patron commissioned this bookpalte for his baby daughter. Because the name Afsheen means "shine like a star", I drew a nocturnal lanscape lit by starlight. The Hand of Fatima symbol refers to the midle name Zahra, one of the titles of Mohammed's daughter Fatima. I was asked to include several things that the girl especially likes: trees, ducks and animals with tails.

The artwork was inspired by 16th century Perisan illuminated manuscripts, as well as by European millefleur tapestries.

Exlibris Kevin G. Rooney: In this one, the central image shows the Saced Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The coats of arms in the corners represent the Rooney family, the Priestly Fraterity of St. Peter, the Crowley family, and the Carmelite Order.

Exlibris James A. Vogel III: I liked the composition that I invented for the Corey B. French bookplate so much that I used it again for my next two commissions. This one has a central image of St. James the Greater, one of the 12 Apostles. It was based on an anonymous 15th century panel painting.

The bones of St. James were discovered in the 9th century by a miraculous starlight near the northwest coast of Spain. The shrine built to house these relics became one of the most popular pilgrimage destinations in Europe. Pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela collected scallop shells from the nearby coast as souvenirs. The pilgrim hat and cloak that the Saint wears in this depiction; the staff and shell that he carries; and the stars, ocean waves and path in the background all refer to this tradition.

The square images in the corners depict the Virgin & Child in the style of a Russian icon; the coat of arms and motto of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre; a portrait of the French-English poet, essayist and economist Hilaire Belloc; and the coat of arms of the Order of Preachers with a torch-bearing dog, a symbol of St. Dominic.

Exlibris Andrew Lohrum: This bookplate
depicts an incident from the life of St. Francis of Assisi, in which one of his
novices asked to possess his own psalter:

Blessed Francis told him:
After you have a psalter, you will desire and want to have a breviary; after you
have a breviary, you will sit in a fancy chair, like a great prelate telling
your brother: Bring me the breviary! And speaking in this way with great
intensity of spirit, he took some ashes in his hand, put them on his head
rubbing them around his head as though he were washing it, saying, I, a
breviary! I, a breviary!I thought that this was a particularly clever choice of subject,
as it shows a man being rebuked for his pride about the prospect of owning a
book.
I used millelfleur decorative patterns in many of my drawings last year. This is
an ornamental fill composed of tiny plants and animals, inspired by 15th century
tapestries. Frogs, rabbits, snails, rats, a snake and a genet can be seen in the
border of this bookplate. It is formatted like a page in an illuminated
manuscript, with wide borders on one side and on the bottom. The bas-de-page
shows the famous story of St. Francis meeting the Wolf of Gubbio.

Note from Lew Jaffe- If you wish to contact Daniel Mitsui his email address is Danmitsui (at) hotmail.com

See you next Sunday-

The clock is ticking. If you want to enter the Humorous bookplate contest stop procrastinating.

Only a few weeks left until the contest ends on February 13th

Please submit one bookplate from your own collection. I am not expecting many entries because humorous bookplates are atypical. That works in your favor if you have something to submit..

I'm not sure if the attached fits into the humour category, but considering
humour is pretty subjective . I will submit it for your delectation. This ex libris
was made for me by an artist / collector in Israel. His name is Leonid Kuris. He
knows I am from Australia. It's humorous, to me, because of the age old myth
that kangaroos bound down Sydney streets (ie near the Opera House). Also
hilarious/ironic is the fact that a kangaroo has a 'pocket' and in that pocket
is a book. My pocket book is often empty because of ex libris collecting. One
more bit of humour is the fact that I'm Australian, but living in Saudi Arabia
and this ex libris was designed by an Israeli.

Regards,

Evan

1/29/2015 Entry # 7 received from Anthony Pincott

Dear Lew

Here is a small contribution if you would like
it.

Rgds, A.

The design pictured here may not be the most beauteous
exlibris ever conceived, but it was created both in tribute and pleasure, and
deserves to rank high in the present selection of amusing bookplates. Its owner,
Brian North Lee (1936-2007), gave a description in his booklet entitled “My
Personal Bookplates” (2001) as follows:

“A bookplate just for fun was drawn for me in 1983 by Benoit
Junod, showing a diminutive BNL, with pipe in mouth – customary in those days –
hand in hand with a rather Amazon Minerva, a big, busty and smiling lass who is
opening the door to lead me into “BOOKPLATE PARADISE”. I drag behind me an
enormous Chippendale wagon, which is almost as much of an extravaganza as the
Duke of Wellington’s funeral carriage, and soon the door’s height will surely
deny it entry, but no matter. The Bookplate abounds in personal references,
including the titles of my first books; I find it engaging; it needed a shape as
exuberant with the strange creatures accompanying; and I fear that Minerva is
going to take me on her knee and mother me as soon as we’re on the other side of
the door” with admission reserved to only serious collectors.

It’s now six years since Brian, sadly missed, passed through
that door, but his extensive contributions to bookplate literature live on. A
few copies of this bookplate remain available and can be obtained, priced at
£7.50 (UK addresses) or £8.50 (elsewhere), by sending payment to PayPal account

At the end of the contest the judges ( Mary & Lew Jaffe) will select the winner. .

The winner will receive an inscribed hardbound copy of all blog postings for 2012

First Entry for the contest Sent by Vladimir Vereschagin

1/14/2013-Entry #2 Submitted by Nina Allen

"What fun! Here is my submission to your humorous bookplate contest.I'm doing this early so that I don't forget about it. I have no ideawho created this bookplate because I can't make out the signature.However, it looks to be dated 1920 in the plate at the bottom"

Comment from Richard Schimmelpfeng
"Lew: the monogram is that of Willi Kadletz, b. 1895. One source says Austrian, another says German - take your Pick. I like it."

Entry #3 Submitted by John Blatchly 1/14/2013James Cormick is an Iran scholar at Cambridge.

Entry # 4 Submitted by Muriel Frega

Entry # 5 Submitted by T.Wixon

Building A collection

I was recently contacted by a new enthusiast who was interested in starting a bookplate collection which focuses on the bookplates used by notable book collectors. I suggested that he begin the project by obtaining a copy of Dictionary of American Book Collectors by Donald C. Dickinson. Mr. Dickinson presents biographical information on 359 significant American book collectors who died before December 31, 1984,

Using the Dickinson book as a foundation I suggested and obtained the following bookplates for him:

Edward Hale Bierstadt

Cortlandt Field Bishop

Beverly Chew

E.D. Church

James William Ellsworth

Samuel W. Lambert

Paul Lemperly

J.P. Morgan

George Barr McCutcheon

Wilbur Macey Stone

Harry Bache Smith

A few of the collectors shown above had multiple bookplates .
Many of the plates were engraved by E.D. French.
Some of the most notable collectors used leather bookplates . They are without a doubt elegant but they eventually damage the pages they touch .

I look forward to assisting the client and will update this posting as more bookplates are obtained..

Two Mystery Bookplates

Can anyone out there assist me in identifying the owners who used or the artists who designed these bookplates ? The artist's cipher on the mystical plate on the right looks ZIA or ZIM

Sunday, January 13, 2013

I have not had a contest for quite some time so I am delighted to announce that the humorous bookplate contest has begun and will continue until February 13th.

Please submit one bookplate from your own collection. I am not expecting many entries because humorous bookplates are atypical. That works in your favor if you have a humorous bookplate to submit..

Send a scan of your entry to

Bookplatemaven@hotmail.com

At the end of the contest the judges ( Mary & Lew Jaffe) will select the winner. .

The winner will receive an inscribed hardbound copy of all blog postings for 2012

Here are a few humorous bookplates from my own collection:

The owner Mr. Pacheco is a magician

First Entry for the contest just received.Sent by Vladimir Vereschagin

1/14/2013-Entry #2 Submitted by Nina Allen

"What fun! Here is my submission to your humorous bookplate contest. I'm
doing this early so that I don't forget about it. I have no idea who
created this bookplate because I can't make out the signature. However, it
looks to be dated 1920 in the plate at the bottom"

Comment from Richard Schimmelpfeng
"Lew: the monogram is that of Willi Kadletz, b. 1895. One source says Austrian,
another says German - take your Pick. I like it."

Entry #3 Submitted by John Blatchly 1/14/2013James Cormick is an Iran scholar at Cambridge.

Monday, January 07, 2013

Breaking News, Hot off the Press.

Major collections available for sale to private collectors do not hit the marketplace very often. It is remarkable that individual bookplates from two different collections are currently being sold by two dealers at the same time.

The Caplin Collection:

Stephen Caplin lived in Brooklyn New York . He started his collection in the early 20th century and continued through the mid 1930's. During his lifetime he corresponded with the major bookplate dealers , collectors and designers.His letters are a treasure trove for bookplate historians.

His collection focuses on the following major areas;

18th and early 19th century American exlibris

.includes the rarest of the rare, George Washington, Paul Revere, etc.

For further information about the Baron collection contact :

The most interesting item I purchased at Papermania was not a bookplate.

I hope to write about it next week.after doing some research. A scan was sent to fellow collector Richard Schimmelpfeng . He speculated that the coarse , dirty paper was made from whatever rags were available after the war of 1812 and that it might have been a notice or broadside posted around the city.